Shasta County students scored slightly higher than students throughout the state in English, math and science, but slipped a bit below the statewide mark in history, according to assessment results announced this morning.
The 2013 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test results were released by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson at a press conference in Sacramento.
Compared with last year, Shasta County students made small gains in all subjects but English. The percentage of Shasta County students scoring proficient or above was 51.4 in math (up .3 percentage points from 2012), 58.9 in English (down 1.2 points), 64.5 in science (up 1.6) and 48.6 in history (up .5).
Statewide, scores were down a bit in all subjects but history. The percentage of students proficient or higher in math was 51.2 (.3 percentage point lower than 2012), 56.4 in English (down .8), 59.1 in science (down .4) and 49.4 in history (up .6).
The 2013 results are the last big hurrah for the familiar multiple-choice tests. Some students will still fill in the bubbles of STAR tests next spring, but many of the previously required tests are being dropped and some school districts will pilot-test Smarter Balanced assessments instead. Smarter Balanced is set to fully replace STAR testing in spring 2015. The new tests done on computers and tablets are part of the switch to Common Core, an approach that emphasizes critical thinking and deep understanding.
Because of the transition to Common Core and a new way of assessing student progress, this year's STAR results are unlikely to carry the weight they once did with educators.
"It's less about 'How do we improve the results we had this year?' and more about 'How do we support this new implementation?'" said Judy Flores assistant superintendent of instructional services for the Shasta County Office of Education.
STAR test results are broken down by district, school and student. They are used to gauge how students are doing and what extra support or changes in approach might be beneficial. The STAR test is helpful, but is "just one snapshot in time," Flores said.
In Shasta County, 20,338 second-graders through 11th-graders took STAR tests in the spring. The 2013 results show more eighth-graders proficient in general math and algebra, Flores said. She attributed that to a switch in placement strategy, where only eighth-graders truly prepared for algebra were placed in the class. Last year about a third of eighth-graders took algebra compared with 60 percent the previous year, she said.
For the most part, Shasta County school districts moved slightly up or down from where their STAR scores were in 2012.
Enterprise Elementary School District's proficiency scores were 58.4 percent in English; 58 percent in history; 63 percent in math and 63.6 percent in science. Scores dipped in English but improved in history, math and science from the previous year. In Redding Elementary School District, the proficiency percentages were 62.9 in English, 42 in history, 63.5 in math and 73.6 in science. Scores went up in math and science, down in English and remained the same in history.
Shasta Union High School District saw its highest proficiency percentage in science, 69.9, and the lowest, 41, in math. At Gateway Unified School District, the top proficiency percentage was 48.8 in science for grades 5,8 and 10; the lowest was 25.4 for high school science. In Anderson Union High School District, the highest percentage of students scoring proficient was 59.1 in science; the lowest was 23.5 in math.
"We're not jumping with joy, but we're not going to jump off a cliff either," Anderson Union High Superintendent Tim Azevedo said.
He said the district's focus is Common Core, and the new structure, especially in math, should help students with comprehension.
Cascade Union Elementary School District had less than half its students scoring proficient in every subject but math. Only 15.4 percent were proficient or above in history. Mountain Union Elementary School District had only 8.3 percent students with proficient or above scores in history, but those results were based on just 12 students (the state does not report scores when 10 or fewer students are tested).
Happy Valley Union Elementary School District had 26.5 percent of students proficient or better in history. That was a 9.6 percentage points up from the prior year. In other subjects, the proficiency percentages ranged from 54.6 to 64.3, and were higher than last year.
"We understand we have a ways to go still, but we're moving in the right direction," Happy Valley Superintendent/Principal Janet Tufts said.
Grant Elementary School District continued to have high scores, but numbers were down from 2012, with a big dip in history: 58.3 percent scoring proficient or better compared with 78.9 percent the prior year.
"It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why the scores went down," Grant Superintendent/Principal Mike Freeman said. He said every student matters, and the scores will be looked at carefully.
Full STAR results can be found at star.cde.ca.gov.
Check the resultsSchool district and school results for the 2013 Standardized Testing and Reporting assessments can be found at the state Department of Education's STAR website, star.cde.ca.gov.
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